Aunt Attack!

I found out late last year/early this year that both my sister & sister-in-law (and thus brother) are having new babies this year! It's been about 4 years since there were any babies around so it's a pretty big deal. We also recently found out that they are both having girls. Now, this is the really big deal part because up until now, they've both had nothing but boys. I have FIVE nephews...and I love those boys, but dear god, i just wanted to buy a baby dress for once in my life.
Baby girls (or babies in general, but especially girls) also open up a whole new world of crochet.
I decided to make my first big project a cute hat and blanket for new niece #1, Katie. (This actually came before the crobot but I had to wait to post until I had sent it.) I found the pattern in the book " Stitch "N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker" by Debbie Stoller. This was actually the first crochet book I ever bought...mostly because of the title. It also has many patterns you wouldn't normally find in a traditional crochet book. I haven't made very many projects from this book but hope to in the future. It does have great information about technique, different stitches, etc.
Now, onto to the blanket/hat combo. First, the hat. I love these hats. I even have a few. But seeing a baby in this hat has to be one of the cutest things ever.


The hat was, by far, the easiest part of the project. I completed it in 2 evenings (which probably could have been 1 if I really wanted). It's made up of double crochets in the round.
There is a potential problem: I think I increased too much at some point and the hat is bigger than it should be....but hey, Katie will need a hat at some point in her life and now she has one :)

Here's the blanket:


Please ignore the crazy eyes...I was pretty excited. Now, does the blanket look a little larger on one end vs. the other? Well, that's because it just may be. You have to remember that the first few lines were some of the first few rows of a real project that I had ever done...so I *may* have missed stitching into a few turning chain stitches along the way...oopsie. The great thing is that Katie will never notice!

And here's the finished package, and proud crafter:


Despite the initial challenges, I am happy with how these turned out. It gave me the confidence to keep crocheting and now I have lots more projects to share in the next few days, including ANOTHER baby hat (hey I got 2 nieces!), a cute, quick father's day gift, and the start of something big.

xoxo

PS- it just occurred to me that if i ever start a business, i will call if Crafts & Crossbones....